The effects of peer feedback on discussion boards on efl students writing performance m a 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE THE EFFECTS OF PEER FEEDBACK ON DISCUSSION BOARDS ON EFL STUDENTS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By NGHIEM THI THU NGA Supervised by DANG TAN TIN, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, DECEMBER 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE THE EFFECTS OF PEER FEEDBACK ON DISCUSSION BOARDS ON EFL STUDENTS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By NGHIEM THI THU NGA Supervised by DANG TAN TIN, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, DECEMBER 2017 APPROVAL SHEET ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Dang Tan Tin, who gave me precious comments to help orientate my research focus and encouragement to continue doing my thesis As an experienced researcher, he was willing to offer help and advice when I encountered difficulties in conducting my research He had inspired my research idea about the application of Information Technology in English language teaching when I was taking his ComputerAssisted Language Learning course In addition, I would like to send my special thanks to the Board of Examiner, including Dr Le Hoang Dung, Dr Pho Phuong Dung, Dr Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, Dr Tran Thi Minh Phuong, and Dr Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu for their invaluable comments during the time I presented my proposal I am also grateful to Dr Nguyen Thu Huong, and Ms Pham Ngoc Kim Tuyen for their special concern during the time I was shaping my research title Besides, I would like to acknowledge the detailed guidance and the assistance of the lecturers of the Faculty of Foreign Languages in the University of Technical Education They also gave me useful advice about the course content, the students’ characteristics and the teaching methodology when I started my teaching career as a novice lecturer in this university I am also indebted to Mr Hoang Nam and Ms Lan Anh, my two dear friends, who gave me practical advice based on their teaching experience Moreover, my research would not be completed without the participation of the students in the two courses Writing - code WRIT120235_03 and Writing – code WRIT220335_01 Thanks to these participants’ enthusiasm, I could investigate the effects of information technology on their language performance to help them make progress in learning English I would like to thank my family members, who gave me financial and mental support to complete my MA program Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Blessed Virgin Mary for her miracles that are out of my imagination i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY The thesis entitled “The effects of peer feedback on discussion boards on EFL students’ writing performance” is conducted under the supervision of Doctor Dang Tan Tin I declare that the content of the thesis is my own research, except where due reference is made Other authors’ works have been used with proper acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution NGHIEM THI THU NGA December, 2017 ii RETENTION OF USE I agree to let the library of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City and the English Resource Center of the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature to use my thesis for the purpose of reference NGHIEM THI THU NGA December, 2017 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Statement of originality ii Retention of use iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations vi List of tables vii List of figures viii Abstract ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Outline of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1 Definitions of terms 10 2.2 Review of previous studies 18 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 35 3.1 Research questions 35 3.2 Research design 35 3.3 Research site 37 3.4 Participants 37 3.5 Research instruments 38 3.6 Data collection procedure 40 3.7 Data analysis procedure 46 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 49 4.1 Analysis of data 49 4.2 Discussion of results 116 4.3 Findings 118 iv 4.4 Summary 118 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 120 5.1 Conclusion 120 5.2 Pedagogical implications 121 5.3 Limitation of the study 122 5.4 Recommendation for further study 126 REFERENCES 128 APPENDICES 141 Appendix A: The tests 141 Appendix B: The Pre-test and the Post-test scores of the Experimental Group and the Control Group 142 Appendix C: Criteria for peer feedback 146 Appendix D: Topics for discussion boards 151 Appendix E: The questionnaire 157 Appendix F: The interview questions 160 Appendix G: The interview transcript 161 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BA: Bachelor of Arts CG: Control group DB: Discussion board EFL: English as a foreign language EG: Experimental group ELT: English language teaching FCE: First Certificate in English HCMUTE: Ho Chi Minh University of Technical Education ICT: Information and Communications Technology IELTS: International English Language Testing System LMS: Learning Management System MA: Master of Arts MOODLE: Modular-Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences TOEFL: Test of English as a foreign language VN: Vietnam vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The Foreign Language Faculty’s points according to each criterion Table 2: The comparison between the IELTS score and the Faculty’s scores Table 3: The IELTS band scores Table 4: The IELTS band scores and the equivalent of in-class scores Table 5: Benefits and limitations of peer feedback on discussion boards Table 6: Data collection procedure Table 7: Test of normal distribution Table 8: Statistics of skewness, kurtosis, min, max Table 9: Test Statistics Table 10: Test Statistics Table 11: Test Statistics Table 12: Test Statistics Table 13: Students’ writing level and previous experience Table 14: Results of the 26 questionnaire items Table 15: Results of the first discussion board Table 16: Results of the second discussion board Table 17: Results of the third discussion board Table 18: Results of the fourth discussion board Table 19: Results of the fifth discussion board Table 20: Results of the sixth discussion board Table 21: Students’ opinions about the advantages of peer feedback on discussion boards Table 22: Students’ opinions about the disadvantages of peer feedback on discussion boards Table 23: Students’ opinions about the solutions to improve peer feedback on discussion boards vii DISCUSSION TOPIC(S) DEADLINES BOARD 6.Revision Each student posts a complete essay of around 250 words according to his or her assigned topic Draft Peer Responsive Revised submission comments comments drafts 23:55 23:55 23: 55 23:55 01/12/2016 05/12/2016 08/12/2016 11/12/2016 Narrative essays: Topic 1: Technology is supposed to solve our problems, but sometimes it just complicates them Write about a time when technology made your life more difficult Topic 2: Our first impressions are not always accurate Write about a time when your first impression of someone or something proved to be wrong Topic 3: Write about an experience of learning something new What problems did you encounter? How did you overcome them? Topic 4: Think about an event in your life that seemed bad but turned out to be good What made the event change from bad to good? What did you learn? 154 DISCUSSION TOPIC(S) BOARD 6.Revision Each student posts a complete essay of around 250 words (Continue) according to his or her assigned topic DEADLINES Draft Peer Responsive Revised submission comments comments drafts 23:55 23:55 23: 55 23:55 01/12/2016 05/12/2016 08/12/2016 11/12/2016 Cause-Effect essays: Topic 5: What effects does the increase in social media have on teen relationships? Topic 6: How does the divorce of parents influence the dating and marriage relationships of their children? Topic 7: What are the reasons for increasing life expectancy? Topic 8: What are the benefits of recycling? Topic 9: What are the effects of cell phones on society? Topic 10: What causes homelessness in society? Topic 11: How does the divorce of parents have an effect on their children? 155 DISCUSSION TOPIC(S) BOARD 6.Revision Each student posts a complete essay of around 250 words (Continue) according to his or her assigned topic DEADLINES Draft Peer Responsive Revised submission comments comments drafts 23:55 23:55 23: 55 23:55 01/12/2016 05/12/2016 08/12/2016 11/12/2016 Comparison-Contrast essays: Topic 12: What are some differences between online classes and traditional classes? Topic 13: Foreign films versus Locally produced films Topic 14: Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between two kinds of trees Topic 15: Childhood versus Adulthood Topic 16: Fiction versus Non-fiction Topic 17: Team sports versus Individual sports Topic 18: Voice chat versus Text chart 156 APPENDIX E: QUESTIONNAIRES STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PEER FEEDBACK ON DISCUSSION BOARDS Which of the following best describes your writing level?  Poor Fair Good Very good Excellent Have you ever done any online writing assignment previously?  Yes No Students’ attitudes towards peer feedback on discussion boards To what extent you agree with the following statements?  Strongly  Disagree  Neutral  Agree Disagree  Strongly Agree A Behavioral attitude Peer feedback on discussion boards allows me to learn from my friends’ essays Peer feedback on discussion boards allows me to work faster than written assignment Peer feedback on discussion boards allows me to publicly show what I for the topics Peer feedback on discussion boards increases my class participation Peer feedback on discussion boards facilitates the interaction between me and my friends I not have enough time to peer feedback on discussion boards                               I could not remember the deadlines      Deadlines cause me to poorly in writing skills      Peer feedback on discussion boards can lead students      to plagiarize each other’s ideas 157 10 I not know how to give peer feedback to my peers      B Cognitive attitude 11 Peer feedback on discussion boards improves my writing skills 12 Peer feedback on discussion boards improves my reading skills 13 Peer feedback on discussion boards improves my vocabulary 14 Peer feedback on discussion boards improves my grammar 15 Peer feedback on discussion boards improves my critical thinking skills 16 Peer feedback on discussion boards develop my writing skills more than traditional face-to-face class 17 Peer feedback on discussion boards helps me know more about other topics 18 Peer feedback on discussion boards is more convenient than writing paper essays                                         19 I see little difference between peer feedback on discussion boards and traditional face-to-face peer      feedback 20 Peer feedback on discussion boards is not effective for my cognition      C Emotional attitude 21 Peer feedback on discussion boards is more motivating to learners than traditional face-to-face class      22 Peer feedback on discussion boards helps me feel confident in participating than traditional face-to-face      class 158 23 I feel socially isolated in doing peer feedback on discussion boards 24.I am not interested in peer feedback on discussion boards           25.I feel my knowledge was limited compared to my peer      26.I prefer teacher feedback more than peer feedback      159 APPENDIX F: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS In your opinion, what are the advantages of peer feedback on discussion boards? (Al Zumor, 2013) In your opinion, what are the limitations of peer feedback on discussion boards? (Al Zumor, 2013) What are your suggestions for the improvement of peer feedback on discussion boards? (Al Zumor (2013) 160 APPENDIX G: SAMPLE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT The interview with Participant 18: Researcher: “Have you ever done any online writing assignment before?” Participant 18: “Not yet, just only in the Listening-Speaking course Researcher: “In your opinion, what are the advantages of the online writing assignment?” Participant 18: “I can find many words Instead of doing the writing assignment in class immediately; I have time to prepare for my essays, information, materials; to read other friends’ essays I can have reference from my classmates My essays were corrected by them I can give feedback to other friends’ essays.” Researcher: What are the benefits of these online activities?” Participant 18: “I can practice The deadlines will promote the time of doing assignment quicker From the beginning of the week to the next week, if I have to submit a paper-based essay, I may leave it until the night before the class meeting to it If I have to write a paper essay, it will be time-consuming because I have to stay in the classroom after class to ask the teacher, or next week I ask the teacher to re-read my essay to show the mistakes for me to correct If I the online writing assignment, I can read my essays and ask the teacher when I not understand.” Researcher: “In your opinion, what are the disadvantages of the online writing assignment?” Participant 18: “If I the essay when you divide the deadlines for each part, it is comfortable for me After writing the introduction, I leave it to write the outline The next day, I return to my essay, even if I have the ideas, I feel that I am interrupted It is time-consuming for me to re-read the introduction to continue writing my essay with the body paragraphs At that time, I forget my ideas I have to re-think I am afraid that the deadline is too near that I cannot finish my essay on time Researcher: “Do you have any problems with Internet connection or [owning] a private laptop to the online writing assignment?” Participant 18: “Last afternoon, when I went online, the Internet connection was not good, I had to wait some time to access it Sometimes, there is a problem with the 161 Internet connection, but not always I not have any difficulty in owning a private laptop Writing an essay with the laptop is more advantageous than writing paper essay because I can correct more mistakes in the former one than the latter one When I write a paper essay, I may skip some mistakes Researcher: “Do you read the online essays on the discussion board?” Participant 18: “When I read the good essays of the excellent students, I feel a little bit confused I want to write, but I not make any progress If I not write anything and I read other friends’ essay, I may be accused of plagiarism Therefore, I not read any essays in advance Only after I post my essay I read other friends’ essays If I see any interesting ideas, I may post that idea If I read other friends’ essays in advance, I may not be consistent with my ideas of that essay.” Researcher: “How often you access Moodle to the online writing assignment?” Participant 18: “It takes me half an hour to access Moodle to post my essay, but it depends on the deadline When I go online to give peer feedback, it may be approximately half a day when I access the course and read for about half an hour If I have much time, I will read the essays of classmates and give correction immediately There are some friends whose essays I not understand the ideas, so I cannot give peer feedback I have to read more essays to know, but I can only give comments for the friends whose essays I read and understand On Moodle, there are some other courses, so I often access that page with other pages to check if there are any exercises Researcher: “What you think about the peer feedback activity?” Participant 18: “The difficulty is that: If I am hard-working, I access Moodle frequently, and no one has given comments for that essay yet, my comments will be more objective If I have the same ideas with the former comment, it is difficult for me to give objective comments to find out the writing mistakes For the students who are good at writing, I not know how to give reasonable comments Researcher: “What are the points that you give comments?” 162 Participant 18: “For the last assignment, I give comments for the essay, the topic sentences, the concluding sentence, the body, and the ideas that are developed in the essay I will see if the word choice is right, the punctuation is good or not in the essay.” Researcher: “What you think about your friends’ comments about your essay?” Participant 18: “My classmates gave right comments I have not seen any cases giving me wrong comments.” Researcher: “What you think about the online writing assignment?” Participant 18: “It is more time-consuming After writing this essay, I re-read it and see that it is too weird I decided to correct the introduction, the body When I read an unreasonable idea, I have to correct it.” Researcher: “In your opinion, how to improve the online writing assignment?” Participant 18: “You should give us a deadline extension from our class meeting to days to complete our essays rather than completing each part of the essay I not know other students’ opinions In my opinion, if you assign the deadlines for each part, I may lose the ideas If you grant me days, I will write a complete essay The introduction is weird so I cannot correct it Not until I write the conclusion I correct the conclusion I think that we should submit the whole essay That you assign us the essay from 250 words to 270 words is reasonable because there are not many words Researcher: “What you think about the amount of the online writing assignment?” Participant 18: “About the assignment, week assignment is light, not heavy If you can, you assign us assignments, but you only take from to assignments For others, they are just supplementary ones for us to practice and receive teacher feedback When we are under pressure, we may afraid that we cannot complete the assignment on time, we it badly and receive low points If we the assignments to practice, we may not afraid of making mistakes.” Researcher: “What you think about the class exercises? Should students give presentations in class?” 163 Participant 18: “I have no opinion about the class exercises We should not give presentations, which is time-consuming Only the presenters read the lesson, the students who are not in charge of the presentation may not read the lesson in advance and they may not understand anything You should assign supplementary class exercises for us to write in groups Researcher: “What you think about the number of online writing assignment?” Participant 18: “In the last semester, the number of assignment is slightly heavy If we wrote peer comments, the ideas may be more overlapped In this semester, with peer comments, the ideas will less likely to be repeated, the number of assignment will be lighter Students should write more to make progress Researcher: “Do you think that teachers should replace students’ presentation with the online writing assignment?” Participant 18: “Yes, I agree.” Researcher: “What you think about the advantages of the online writing assignment?” Participant 18: “From the beginning of the semester until now, I am lazy, but only when the deadline is so near I the online writing assignment I go online to read my friends’ essays, I read the good ones to re-write and invest more in my essay My friends become more diligent, although I have to be diligent If there is no online writing assignment, I only write my essay from the night until the morning that I have the writing course, I cannot write in advance It is easier to correct my writing mistakes in the online writing assignment than on handwriting paper, which is too tired for me to correct When I learn in this way, I know my writing proficiency, my writing scores are higher I prefer to write more essays, even when the writing scores are sometimes high and low In the last semester, for the assignment per week the teachers gave us, they marked them, we could not ask them for our writing mistakes and we could not review them Apart from it, the final scores are higher than my expectation.” Researcher: “In your opinion, is the writing rubric of IELTS really appropriate for the narrative essays?” 164 Participant 18: “It is rather difficult for narrative essays Some students use common words, arrange good sentences It does not require the essay to become difficult like IELTS The writing rubric for IELTS is more suitable for Argumentative essays Only when we take the IELTS test we need the less common and academic words If the IELTS writing rubric is kept, it is reasonable and better to choose other assignments for the standard after the course If homework assignment follows the IELTS standard, and that is the supplementary material, it is normal For the assignments whose results are taken into the official grades, we may feel afraid It is slightly passive whenever we take the course, we have to adopt IELTS as a standard as if we take the real IELTS test while there are many international certificates I see that the TOEFL Internet-based Test is more difficult, but after the course adopts IELTS standard, I think that I learn in order to make progress It is not like we keep adopting IELTS in the learning program.” Researcher: “What you think about peer feedback from discussion board to discussion board 3?” Participant 18: “I make more progress From the small assignment to the big assignment, I not feel exhausted and I make more progress From the Writing course to the Writing course, I may feel that I not have enough ability In the summertime, students may forget the knowledge It is better to consolidate the knowledge carefully first, then we learn the knowledge in higher level.” Researcher: “When you give peer feedback to others, which criteria that you concern the most?” Participant 18: “When I give peer feedback to others, I pay attention to the paragraph or the sentence, whether they are logical and achieve coherence and cohesion or not At first, I pay attention to grammar Later, I pay attention to the way I write the sentence structures to make them sound better and reasonable Although I write with the Vietnamese meaning, however, when I read others’ essays, I have other ideas Researcher: “What you think when you read the peer feedback of your essay?” Participant 18: “My recent essay has the correction from only friend Other students correct my essay frugality Though I give feedback carefully with 500 words, some friends only focus on grammar There was one day when I did not receive any peer 165 feedback, I felt comfortable I just received teacher feedback and did not have to exchange comments with others.” Researcher: “What you think when you give peer feedback to other friends?” Participant 18: “For the second assignment, I give peer feedback in detailed I see that my friends not care about this When I not receive any peer feedback, I feel lazy, just give correction in moderate level Last semester, I learned Listening-Speaking course, I gave peer feedback to help my friends make progress I gave peer feedback enthusiastically I even sent inbox messages to give peer feedback even though they did not make any correction For the students who wanted to make more progress, I also behave enthusiastically to them If there is no one the online assignment, I feel lazy, too My friends have to push me a little, so I may behave enthusiastically to them, not because I not give comments to them, and they no longer give comments to me anymore If I give too many comments, I am afraid that my friends not like them, as if they not care I also limit my comments at the general level I gave correction with 500 words, and they also thanked me.” Researcher: “At this time, you think that the online writing assignments are useful?” Participant 18: “When I the mid-term test, I can learn I can the online writing assignment and it is convenient for me to copy with pen and papers If I wait for the essays return, it is longer than I take the essays from online discussion boards.” Researcher: “What you prefer: deadline or deadlines for an essay?” Participant 18: “I prefer deadline Like the recent assignment, you gave us deadline Researcher: “What you think about the usefulness of the course book?” Participant 18: “I think that the paragraphs in the course book are not too difficult, I think that it is unnecessary I am weak at the sentence structures, I not know where to find the materials I learn FCE, in other words, I not know if the structures in the FCE readings are suitable to write or speak English How can I use the vocabulary reasonably? Oxford or Longman? How can I use the vocabulary and the sentence structures? I have passed two semesters with grammar, which are enough I am weak at sentence structures My structures are not good due to the repetition This course book 166 is not useful It is not like the textbooks of the Writing course, I can learn a lot from these fragment mistakes For the sophomore students, the grammar is not the main problem There are many times I use the noun clauses, but they are not suitable I not know how to use that kind of grammar suitably in the essay.” Researcher: “In your opinion, what are the advantages of peer feedback on discussion boards?” Participant 18: “The advantages are that I know how to correct other friends’ essays When I read that essay, I will determine whether that friend’s sentences are right or not If they are incorrect, where are the mistakes and how to correct them? I put me in the position as the person giving peer feedback for my friends, so I will have to correct my friends’ essays carefully After giving peer feedback to other friends, I can learn some good sentences of my friends, or the words that my friends make mistakes, but I not realize that I have also made errors like them from the past until now Now, I know that I make mistakes, after I look up the words in the dictionary.” Researcher: “After learning this course, in your opinion, what are the disadvantages of peer feedback on discussion boards?” Participant 18: “The limitations are that…although the peer feedback on discussion boards has some advantages to help me know the new sentences, I know that sometimes I make mistakes like my friends Some friends, I can say that they are really good at writing skills, so when I read their essays, I may not know where they make mistakes or may not know how to correct them I read the essays for a while, and I feel that I am confused, I cannot give any feedback Or when I give peer feedback on discussion boards to other friends, it is time-consuming to look at the screen to read, to look up the dictionary and to give correction.” Researcher: “Do you have any suggestions to improve the peer feedback on discussion board activity?” Participant 18: “The thing I see is that it is quite alright.” Researcher: “Do you think that this activity should be kept like this or changed?” Participant 18: “In the peer feedback on discussion boards, if it is difficult and it makes students feel tired, we should print the essays and have the period for giving peer 167 feedback together on papers because on papers, we can underline and circle, we can find the points faster than we use computers and we cannot miss any mistakes.” Researcher: “In general, is the activity useful for you?” Participant 18: “Yes, I think so From the beginning of this course, although the writing scores not increase, but I myself find that I know how to present more ideas, I know how to find more vocabulary, I know some sentence patterns, some words that my friends make mistakes I can be aware of the resources and materials where I can look for those words, and how I can find them, whether they are right or not.” Researcher: “When you evaluate your friends’ essay, which criterion that you will focus on the most?” Participant 18: “I pay attention to the criterion of coherence and cohesion Moreover, after I read the whole essay, I will see whether it is logical or not Regarding to the vocabulary, it depends on each student’s ability, maybe this essay does not have good vocabulary, but if that friend can connect the ideas among the paragraph and it is understandable to read.” Researcher: “Thank you very much.” 168